Hi! This blog discusses some of my books, ideas for Genealogists, or it could be about my jewelry line or Mystery Books - Just lots of fun! The Store is called KastleKreationsGifts at https://www.KastleKreations.net
Family History Consultants, you would also be interested in our blog: www.naswfamilyhistory.blogspot.com Sign up for our Newsletter - http://eepurl.com/cZDKYn
I hope you enjoy my latest book! It's all about an unlikely couple who are urged by family on one side of the veil and friends on the other to find each other and increase their happiness on this earth. They meet through a comedy adventure of miscommunications and errors and these well-meaning friends! However, they bond while helping the police solve a crime which happens on Summer's property.
Enjoy a clean love story, on me! Available this week on Amazon. Watch the trailer below:
Self-reliance...Charting your Destiny with Heavenly Father!
Recently I took a class with our Church on Self Reliance. I went into it with the brakes on, stating, we didn't need to do this. I was so wrong!
We learned so much!
We forged bonds with other members and helped each other with marketing and networking ideas. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about our businesses. One of the first things we learned in the class is that we need to pray for our business to find out how Heavenly Father wants us to Proceed. I do several things from Genealogy to Mystery Shopping, to Avon as Sales and Recruiting, to Consulting with others on their Businesses through Web Design, Marketing/Networking and Search Engine Optimization through placing in Directories and Search Engines and lastly, as a business slash hobby, I also make my own jewelry, so which of these things was I supposed to focus on for the class? That was the first prayer. The answer came back, "none of these, go find your books." Lexie - from Uncharted Destiny
Well, that was a surprise. In 1988-1992, I wrote seven novels during a very difficult time in my life. It was a great way to keep my moral integrity as I focused on principles that would enhance and uplift my life through stories and fictional novels. My first husband was less than enthusiastic about helping me get them published and my financial options at that time did not allow the 2200/book cost. It was important for me to have these put into print for my posterity so they could learn things that would help them as adults in a fun way.
I put them in a box and they followed me to Arizona where they have been tucked away for the last ten years. I knew not where they hid in the maze of our cardboard menagerie in the garage. Yet, when I prayed about it, I went right to the correct box, and there they were, still with their Printmaster graphics and rip away dot matrix paper from Radio Shack. (the old-fashioned printers that first came with computers were stacks and stacks of paper attached to little rip away feeder holes so that you could feed an entire stack of 500 sheets of paper into the printer and it would print them continuously, then when you ripped away the little strips on the side, it looked like regular paper. We've come a long way baby!) Mike and Madelyn Murphy from Uncharted Destiny
Fast forward to 2017 and my dream is happening. We are in the final editing stages of the seventh book and progress has already begun on the sequel to Under Cover and also Uncharted Destiny.
The marketing technique for one of the books I used, was in conjunction with the Self Reliance Class. My daughter is a well rounded Artist from Ogden, Utah. I had her place an ad on the Utah Film and Actor's facebook page for a casting call. These people would try out for the "Part" of a character in my book. She listed the qualities of each character and when selected, she took pictures of them acting out parts in the book. They signed a release that we could use their photos and in return would get to keep the professional pictures for their portfolio, and list themselves as in our Production, they would be listed as Cast members in the book with their picture, and if used in the video, they could certainly use a link to that in their portfolio as well. No cost to us. No cost to the Actors.
Moody Mark, Catherine the Drama Queen, and Tiger - all from Uncharted Destiny
My daughter did such a good job of matching characters, right down to their bodies, hair and eyes and personalities. It was amazing. The chemistry was so great with some of them that they may even be dating now as I write this to you - how fun is that? Here are some of the pictures from the book, Uncharted Destiny and a couple of wonderful reviews of it!
Catherine, after a little fall, decides to put a "cast" on made out of toilet paper.
Tiger, from Uncharted Destiny is a real pistol and quite the character. He loves box racing and is one of the heroes of the Story.
I hope you all enjoy this book! It was lots of fun to make it come to life!
Here is the video for it and My Amazon and Goodreads Author pages
I feel like I was the benefactor of a Miracle last night. I have had laryngitis all week.Just want to express my gratitude for all the prayers on my behalf. Heavenly Father does listen. I had the worst laryngitis all week. Tonight was the big Stake Choir Concert. Ted gave me another blessing and this time it was more urgent. When I got there I was pretty bummed because I couldn’t talk still. But for some reason, I had about 6 notes above high c which came out clear as a bell. Anything else cut out and was gravelly. I thought if I have to cancel because I can’t sing the notes then 4 people won’t be able to perform; the pianist, the tenor and the violinist too. I thought what if I changed it to an obligato 1/3 above The tenor? It worked right, we did it off the cuff and performed it. Nailed it. Still can’t talk but what a testimony for the blessing. Thank you honey, for the blessing and for those who put my name in at the Temple. It was a multi-congregation venture and we all came together for Christ. .
There are truths, myths and inaccurate items on the internet about Genealogy, or Family History.
There are truths and myths about Genealogy. Old timey' genealogists are rolling over in their graves and the ones still alive are a little miffed at how easy it is to do this work now. But is it really that easy? If you are a CLICKER.....YES, it's easy, but not always accurate. So before you start clickin' make sure you have checked and double checked your sources and that each document you find supports another one.
This means, for example, if you are finding a birth certificate and a death certificate and then you find a census for that person and for some reason there she is on the census, then is the death certificate valid? Hmmm. When you check the census from the years before, do all the kids names and ages line up? So then you would not click on the death certificate to add it to your file, because you just proved with the census that she is still living 5 years later.
Sample Death Certificate
One truth is that back in the 70s, it took a very long time to corroborate data. Everything was by snail mail and sometimes it took 3 weeks to get a microfiche film to you and it wasn't correct so you had to send it back and start over. It was also very expensive which deterred a lot of people. Birth Certificates cost upwards of 25.00 each, as well as Marriage Certificates or Death Certificates.
Now, it's as easy as clicking the "ENTER" key - - - or IS it?
Myth #1 Everything you read on the internet is true. Not. Apparently there are people who wrote their genealogy in a slanted light....without the horse thieves and skeletons in the closet.
Myth #2 - When the United States was expanding after the Louisiana Purchase and some people were pushing west, it was absolutely normal for people to move from state to state. False, it was actually against the norm. It took a lot to convince people to go West. They were comfortable where they were and they knew that a long trip would be very hard on them. Not just the elements were at risk, people's constitutions were not as stong as one might think. There were no food supplements, extra protein bars, unlimited reverse osmosis water, refrigeration to help preserve their food. There certainly were no anti bacterial agents like Pennicillin. Many died from childbirth complications. It was no picnic.People are creatures of habit. Usually, once they put down roots, they roost there. I can't tell you how many cases we have researched and people had the different children born all over the country and then the last children born back in the same town where they originated. Fact. Many people named their children the exact same name from generation to generation. When a new person is researching genealogy, they don't always take the time to map out the ages and make sure the parents fit the generation, so sometimes you will see a father as the child in the next generation instead of the previous. That's quite a simplification of the problem.
Here's a great example. One woman was convinced that her family came from Scotland and that her Great, Great Grandfather was born in Utah. She had his parents in Scotland, raised, married, and 3 children born there, then it showed him born in Utah in 1620. Utah didn't become a state for over 200 years. People didn't even venture to that part of the United States until years and years later. His younger siblings were born in Scotland to the same parents in 1700. That would make the mother over 70 years old when giving birth. Take your time.
Make sure you have the proper documents to prove your case.
Myth #3 All Certificates have the correct names on them. Wow. When you die, make sure the person who really knows you fills out the death certificate. Sometimes people guessed at names, ages, and spelling....oh, and birth dates. So if 80% of the document is correct, you may be looking at a good document.
I hope you enjoy this - thanks to gotgenealogy.com - great little document here!
Myth #4 - The winner in Genealogy has all original documents.
False. Give your family the gift of life. Make copies of precious documents and create little books for them so that they can enjoy their heritage. Not all Genealogists are paper hoarders. We just feel more secure if we have the documentation to prove our existence. Why cheat the other members of your family by holding onto them until you pass.
HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GIVE FAMILY HISTORY DOCUMENTS
First - if you have family coming into town, get their life story documented on video. there...got the family history part out of the way! Fun places to go! Mesachristmaslights.com
I was there! It was mentioned on Facebook and people went craaaaaaazy trying to get there - it was amazing. Hang out there around noon on the 22nd or 23rd - maybe they will do it again!!!!
For more books by Karen S Meyer - visit:
